While a sturdy experience that only just overstays its welcome, Unpacking lost a bit of wind in its sails for me when I read that it was a puzzle game only after downloading it - I really think that confining the general amount of space in each apartment as much as the devs do but still requiring as strict a placement guide for 'solving' each of the levels (which is what each of these snippets of environmental storytelling are once we establish that they're puzzles - they can't just be apartments with this requirement) keeps the game from really telling an interesting emergent narrative about how well our PC is adapting to the frequent resituations she is forced through; is there a harmony with each displacement or do things slowly fall apart? That is the question I wanted explored. Instead, getting a neat mechanical narrative backed by a lackadaisical pace was a worthwhile break from Elden Ring but ultimately a bit too teflon to really compel in any way that felt as though inhabiting each space was a legitimate participation.

Also just let me stack the tampons a bit higher under the counter! You're telling me that they only go, at most, two boxes high? Ridiculous.